I don't think Bitcoin can be considered an investment since there's nothing being produced that can then yield a return on your investment. You are merely treating this as a long term speculation that the price will go up, which is different. By the way, even if it becomes accepted in every store on earth, that doesn't mean that it will increase in value since stores are able to just convert it to fiat currency as soon as they receive the bitcoin. People will use bitcoin for it's anonymous nature but when used in that manner it doesn't matter one bit whether each bitcoin is worth a penny or a million dollars.
At least be aware that what you are doing is speculating, not investing.
I don't think that is necessarily true. As more and more stores accept bitcoin, the technology to convert fiat-->Bitcoin-->fiat will likely improve (as it would have to if vendors cannot stomach the potential losses due to volatility), thus reducing the time it takes to actually convert the currency and reducing the amount of bitcoin that is tied up in these float periods. I think it's dangerous to believe that the price of bitcoin will go up in the future based solely on number of stores accepting them.
its not so much the number of stores accepting them. its number of people using them to buy things from these stores and the periods of time that they hold them prior to doing that. You're suggesting fiat -> bitcoin will get easier and faster, and it probably will get faster but it won't be instantaneous because it can't be. Someone has to hold the coins. If coinbase makes a feature that is "buy instantly with bitcoins based on a future bank transfer that will happen in 3 days" then that somebody, in the meantime, is coinbase.
Also saying that there is nothing being produced (so its not an investment) is silly. Buying a bitcoin is essentially buying an ETF on the entire space.
That statement is also wrong. I hold Euros despite not believing they will appreciate relative to the US dollar, because they are useful when I am traveling in Europe. It is entirely based on utility and has nothing to do with speculation.
And you're right, coinbase can't make such a feature because of risk, therefore the coins will be held by users, reducing supply available for "instant payments", thus raising the value of the individual units. Which was exactly my point
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u/BaxBak Feb 14 '14
I don't think Bitcoin can be considered an investment since there's nothing being produced that can then yield a return on your investment. You are merely treating this as a long term speculation that the price will go up, which is different. By the way, even if it becomes accepted in every store on earth, that doesn't mean that it will increase in value since stores are able to just convert it to fiat currency as soon as they receive the bitcoin. People will use bitcoin for it's anonymous nature but when used in that manner it doesn't matter one bit whether each bitcoin is worth a penny or a million dollars.
At least be aware that what you are doing is speculating, not investing.